A/N: New huge update for the win! Okay so this chapter kind of a filler sort of? I kind of wanted to delve into Irena's character and her past a bit more and have an excuse to push some of Stephen's buttons at the same time so here you go! There is a little bit of plot near the end though so I hope you all enjoy that too!
Also, I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who reviewed, faved and followed. It really makes me feel good to know people are enjoying this story. Thanks again to Heaven in A Rage for your awesome repeated reviews. It's so hard not to be critical of my work, I want everybody to like and it want it to be perfect. It's a disease I swear. To Ground-Cinnamon I take that as a complement, glad you are liking it so far and I hope to keep updating weekly, providing work lets me.
Finally, I have decided to add a tiny spoiler for the next chapter after each chapter is done, so look out for that!
P.S: Please keep on follow, faving and reviewing! It really helps to know that I'm doing a good job or if something needs fixing! Spank you greenwald everybody!
Now on with the show!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
To Be Surprised
Irena
Humming along to her music, Irena flipped through her newly acquired gossip rag magazine and lounged on a couch in what she called the 'living room' of the sanctum. She found it one day when she was exploring. It was comfortable and quiet, she what she needed after the insane two days she just had. Reading gossip rags was a little bit of a dirty secret of hers, she knew they were stupid but they were a great way to blow off steam. She was so lost in her magazine that she didn't feel the presence that entered the room until it snatched the magazine right from under her.
Realizing what just happened, she looked up to see Stephen holding her magazine and looking at her with amusement.
"Hey, what in the hell was that for? Give that back you jerk!" She yelled indignantly.
He shook his head and held it out of her reach teasingly.
"Why are you reading this drivel? It'll melt you brain!" He teased.
"After the last two days I've had, I'm willing to sacrifice a couple of brain cells. Now give it back, damnit!" She whined.
Getting up from her position, she made an attempt to get her magazine back but the height difference made the effort fruitless. He continued to dangle it over her head with an infuriating smirk plastered on his handsome face. Oh that asshole, she was going to get her damn magazine back one way or another. Letting out a battle cry of frustration, she pounced onto him with force enough to knock him back onto the couch. She climbed up him like Super Mario trying to climb a freaking beanstalk. She sensed that he wasn't upset by it in the least in fact; it completely amused him which pissed her off more. She did, however, manage to snatch her magazine back.
She watched apprehensively as his amused grin turn into a look that was wreaking serious havoc on her insides. She was so intent on getting her magazine back that she hadn't paid any attention to the fact that she was now sitting on top of him. She felt an uncontrollable flush travel up her neck as he placed his hand on her lower back and pulled her closer to himself.
"Well if I had known that this was all it would take to get you on top of me, I would have done it a lot sooner." He purred cheekily.
At his words, she felt her flush grow ten-fold and she spluttered for a moment.
"I…what…oh, you, you JERK you!" She shrieked, swatting at him with her magazine.
She watched as he laughed outright at her lame ass attempt to insult him and she knew that it was bad by even her standards. She watched him open his mouth no doubt to tell her as much when suddenly something shifted. Suddenly Stephen's entire demeanour changed, he went from playful and annoyingly flirty to fiercely protective. Clearly something changed that her magic in the current state it was in was not strong enough to pick up. Gently, he shifted her from his lap to the couch and stood up. She looked at him questioningly.
"What…" She started but was cut off by Stephen.
"There is somebody in the Sanctum, stay here." He ordered.
"But…" She protested but was again cut off by Stephen.
"I said stay here!" He growled.
She flinched at the tone of his voice, not use it sounding the way it did. She knew he was just trying to keep her safe though. As if sensing all her messed up emotions, his blue eyes softened considerably and he stroked the top of her head.
"Please." He amended in a softer tone.
She nodded wordlessly and he stepped away from her. She watched him call for his cloak and leave the room.
Momentarily, she sat on the couch completely stunned before shaking it off. There was no way in HELL that she was staying put. To hell with that! Throwing her magazine on the couch, she left the room and tip toed to the foyer. After way there, she started being able to sense what Stephen had been sensing. Somebody WAS in the Sanctum, but it felt sort of familiar like she knew the person. Getting closer to the foyer, she realized that she DID know who the person was. Entering the foyer, her eyes bulged in shock at the sight in front of her. Stephen had Bucky pinned to the wall using the crimson bands of Cyttorak. She could sense that Bucky was hurt, not from Stephen but by something that happened before he came to the Sanctum. She had to stop Stephen now.
"Stephen, stop!" She exclaimed.
Her shout was enough to distract him effectively ending the spell and releasing Bucky. He turned to her looking pissed off.
"I thought I told you to stay put!" He yelled.
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. She had to remind herself that He probably didn't know anything about Bucky living at the tower and probably thought he was still an enemy.
"Stephen, relax. Bucky is not an enemy I promise." She said, trying to placate him.
Thankfully, it seemed to work, mostly. He was still very tense but she didn't think that he would attack again. She moved to go and help Bucky but was stopped by Stephen. She turned back around and he looked at her imploringly.
"But he was the winter soldier." He said, she could sense the distrust coming from him.
Hearing that name, she cringed. She hated that stupid name and she could tell Bucky did too.
"He isn't that person anymore, I swear." She tried to reassure him.
"Stephen, please." She intoned softly, eyes begging.
Finally, she felt Stephen relax more and release her. She ran up to Bucky and led him over to the couch so she could check him over. Lifting up his black tank top, she very quickly found where the injury was. A lovely looking burn on his lower abdomen. Looking at his metal arm, she saw that it was crudely wrapped up with...something. Unwrapping whatever it was that he had wrapped around his metal arm, she was shocked to see a giant gaping hole in it with all kinds of wires and circus sticking out where they weren't supposed to be. Poking around, she wondered how the hell he managed to mess up his arm so bad. Deep down, she kind of had an idea of what happened.
Sighing, she decided the best way to go about fixing this situation would be to give Bucky some relief from his burn first. Super solider serum or not, that had to hurt like hell. Getting up from her crouched position in front of the couch, she turned back to face Stephen who looked really kind of jealous. She inwardly snorted, if he only knew he had nothing to worry about at all.
"Stephen, you wouldn't happen to have something for burns would you?" She asked.
She watched Stephen momentarily hesitate and then he nodded, She suspected that his Doctor instincts kicked in and won out over the jealousy.
'Thank god this not the time for you to go all Doctor douche-noodle on me, Stephen.' She thought.
She could tell he read her thoughts because he was looking at her with a look that said 'Doctor douche-noodle, seriously?' She merely inwardly shrugged right back at him.
"Yes I believe I do, let me go retrieve it and I will return shortly." He replied, leaving the room.
She knew how he used to be and just didn't need or want that right now. Sighing, she returned to trying to sort out the mess that was Bucky's arm. Looking up momentarily, she saw that Bucky had a look on his face that told her that he was about to say something that would more than likely piss her right off.
"So, I think your boyfriend hates me." He joked.
Immediately, she could feel an uncontrollable blush heat up her cheeks. She didn't think she was being THAT obvious but clearly she was.
"He is so NOT my boyfriend!" She denied vehemently.
"ANYWAY, do you mind telling me what you did to piss off Tony so bad? I mean I know I told you to come visit me but this is ridiculous." She continued changing the subject quickly.
Bucky chuckled knowingly at her question and her quick change of subject.
"Can't get much passed you, can I? I really didn't want the queen of the twats anywhere near my arm. So I gathered some of your shit and came here." He explained.
She gathered quickly that 'the queen of the twats' was the new mechanic Tony hired to replace her while she was gone.
'Wow, was it really THAT bad?' She wondered.
As much as she wanted to think that it was, it probably wasn't. That was just 'Bucky' for I don't trust that bitch anywhere near my arm so I came here so you could fix it. She knew that Bucky still had problems with trust and probably always would. It wasn't his fault.
"So, Tony caught you didn't he?" She guessed.
Bucky nodded.
"Yeah he did, but his aim is total shit when he's pissed." He said.
"Thank god for that, tell me how did he manage to catch a master assassin like yourself?" She asked curiously.
Bucky gave her the stink eye at that question.
"Hey it wasn't my fault! My arm was making so much damn noise everybody probably heard me!" He protested.
"So something was wrong with it before Tony blew a hole in it?" She gathered.
"Yeah, I don't know what I did, must have scewed it up training." He shrugged.
"Fair enough, let me go see what goodies you brought me and I'll see what I can do." She said, getting up from the floor.
She walked over to the black bag Bucky discarded when Stephen attacked him. Opening it up, she saw all kinds of tools that she could use to fix his arm. She was a little shocked that he knew which tools to grab in the first place. She was so happy to have some of her tools back, that she started doing quite the cheesy happy dance. She knew she probably looked like such an idiot but she just couldn't bring herself to care.
"Yay, tools!" She exclaimed in happiness.
She heard Bucky snort in amusement and she also sensed that Stephen had come back into the room. He was carrying a small pot of salve in his right hand and was also looking at her with amusement. She watched him toss the pot of salve to Bucky.
"Here, that'll help with the burn. I concocted it myself so it should work well." He explained.
Bucky nodded his thanks to Stephen and applied some of the salve to his burn. She could sense that it did make him feel better. Bucky threw the pot of salve back to Stephen and he pocketed it. She was happy to sense that Stephen seemed a lot less grumpy and jealous about this whole situation now. When Bucky first came to the tower, he refused to let anybody get near him except for her for some reason. Not even Steve could get close to him for a long time which she could tell kind of pissed him off a little bit. It pissed off Tony a whole lot too but she couldn't leave him to suffer so she helped him every step of the way however she could. Over time, she formed a bond with him that was completely platonic like he was her bother in every way but blood. Thinking of him in any other way was just plain freaking nasty. Since Stephen could pick up on emotions like she could, she gathered that he figured that out. She could still feel hints of possessiveness but most of it was gone thank god.
She was really thankful for that because she didn't quiet think she was ready to explain the whole thing to Stephen just yet. That was a lot of emotional baggage to go through.
She picked up the black bag of tools and gestured for Bucky to get off of the couch and he complied. She so did NOT want to be reasonable for wrecking anything in Stephen's foyer so she thought the 'practice room' would be the best bet to fix Bucky's arm. She turned to Stephen and gave him a curious look.
"Would you be willing to be my assistant? I am going to need help fixing Bucky's arm." She explained.
She watched as Stephen thought for a moment and then he nodded.
"I think that I can do that." He said.
She gave him an incredibly grateful look. She knew that she was asking a lot of him.
"Thank you so much. I really I appreciated it." She said gratefully.
She knew with him helping her it would take half the time it normally would if she were doing it alone. She and Stephen led Bucky to the 'practice room' and she told Bucky to take a seat in the chair that was next to the table. She dumped the bag of tools onto the table and sorted through them while Stephen went to retrieve another chair from the library. Looking down at her AC/DC shirt, skinny jeans and mismatched socks, she let out a sigh. She kind of wished she had a pair of overalls in case she wrecked her shirt but there wasn't much she could do about it. After organizing her tools, she started poking around Bucky's arm. She couldn't believe the mess that it was. Stupid Tony really did a number on it. Stephen returned with the chair and she looked at him gratefully. She sat down and got to work.
"So, how's the magic training going?" Bucky asked, breaking the silence.
She was so shocked at the sudden interruption of silence, that she accidently shocked herself with a couple of loose wires in Bucky's arm.
"Ouch!" She yelped.
She looked at Bucky with her lips pursed in mock irritation.
"Thanks for scaring the crap out of me you jerk. It's going pretty good! I can control it now at least." She replied.
Bucky looked at her sheepishly.
"Sorry and that's good news." He said.
She just inwardly rolled her mismatched eyes and got back to work. Slowly, she began to reconnect all of the disconnected wires and put everything back in its place. Every time she needed a different tool, Stephen would switch it out for her. She could sense that he was becoming interested in what she was doing.
"Hmm, this is just like performing a surgery." He commented with interest.
"Yes, yes it is." She agreed with a knowing smile on her face.
She could tell she had him hooked how. Hopefully, she could ask him to let her do it again if Bucky ever needed it. After a good two hours, she had everything back in place, but there was still the issue of covering the giant, gaping hole that was left. Looking around, she saw a piece of she didn't even know what the hell it was that Bucky must have tossed in the bag with all of the tools. It would have to do. Grabbing her goggles, she put them on and worked on soldering the piece of hodge-podge metal over the hole on Bucky's arm. It didn't look pretty but it did the job.
"How's that work for you?" She asked curiously
Bucky moved his arm experimentally and gave her a winning smirk.
"It's perfect, doll face." He grinned.
She could sense Stephen's possessiveness spike at Bucky's endearment. She inwardly shook her head. Oh Stephen.
"Excellent." She said, happy her skills hadn't gotten rusty over time.
She turned to Stephen and looked at him apprehensively. She seriously hoped she could appeal to surgeon inside of him.
"Um Stephen, could Bucky come back here go get his arm repaired again if he needs to?" She asked apprehensively.
She watched Stephen think for a moment and then he nodded.
"Sure, I think that would be okay. I would like to learn more about how you do it anyway." He replied.
She inwardly let out a breath of relief. Thank god. That worked better than she thought it would. Bucky had so many issues with trust that he would probably sooner walk around with his arm messed up than letting that other mechanic try to fix it. This way, she knew it was getting fixed right. Plus Stephen got a taste of performing surgery which she knew he sorely missed it was a fair trade for teaching her how to control her magic.
She put away all of her tools and sung the black bag over her shoulder. She, Stephen and Bucky walked back to the foyer in a comfortable silence. Just as she was about to bid Bucky goodbye, he spoke first.
"So Strange, do you like my sister?" He asked curiously.
Both she and Stephen looked at Bucky with shock at the question.
"Excuse me?" Stephen choked.
"You heard me Strange, do you like my sister?" Bucky asked again.
Realizing what was happening, she instantly turned a ridiculous shade of purple. She was not sticking around to listen to Bucky give Stephen the big brother talk. Could Bucky be any more embarrassing? She needed to get the hell out now.
"Well, this is where I take my leave. Goodbye Bucky, don't hesitate to come back if you need you need your arm fixed, I am so not listening to this and I am so out of here!" She said hastily.
She backpedaled out of the foyer as fast as she could. She even plugged her ears for good measure. Satisfied that she was out of hearing range, she un-plugged her ears and headed for her bed room. Entering her bedroom, her mismatched eyes instantly went to the big book sitting on her desk and she sighed. She supposed now was as good as a time as any to finish reading up on that necklace.
She now knew that it was called the Dragon's Tear and that it wasn't a normal relic but not much else.
Discarding the bag of tools, she went and sat down at her desk. She flipped open the book and found the page with the drawing of the necklace on it. She continued to read.
Dragon's Tear: The Dragon's tear is a relic that has been specifically designed to be wielded by a Guardian. The power that it contains is too great for any normal sorcerer to wield. It amplifies the magic of its wearer and allows the wearer to shape-shift into a dragon. Should any normal sorcerer try to wield the Dragon's Tear, consequences would be disastrous.
So that left her with more questions than answers. What in the hell was a Guardian and why was this relic calling to her to try and wield it? Did that mean that she wasn't human?
She continued to read but found no more information on Guardians in this book. She knew that would probably have to switch them out to find out more. Damn, well, didn't this make her feel like more of freak than she already was. Sighing, she closed the book and crawled into bed. She decided that she needed some sleep before she did that. She wondered if she should tell Stephen what was happening to her or not. She decided that for now she would just research on her own. If she needed Stephen's help, she would tell him. She was so confused that she would rather try to figure it out on her own first.
Letting out another soft sigh, she let her mismatched eyes drift shut. There was no sense in worrying about it now. Sleep was way more important at the moment.
Memory/Dream
A small child no old her than 4 years of age stood in small living room staring at glass strewn all over the wooden floor at her chubby little feet. Her mismatched eyes of blue and green stared at the glass in shock not realizing what just happened. Her mother entered the small living room and let out a long sigh.
"Oh sweetness what happened this time?" She asked softly.
"Don't know mama, glass just 'sploded." The little girl said.
Before the mother could reply, the father entered the living room looking angry.
"What did I tell you about doing this?!" The father yelled.
The little girl flinched at her father's angry voice.
"Sorry papa didn't mean to." The little girl mumbled.
The father let out an angry growl and grabbed the arm of the little girl roughly.
"I don't care that you didn't mean to do it, I said no magic bullshit in this household!" The father snarled.
The little girl trembled with fear. Before the father could lay a hand on her, the mother grabbed her and ran. The mother ran out of the house and reached the center of the tiny village that they lived in as fast as she could. Placing the little girl on her feet, she looked at her lovingly and stroked her soft head.
"Daughter, you must listen to me. You must run until you find the big wooden magical door do you understand me? Do not stop running until you find that door do you understand?" The mother explained.
The 4 year old little girl nodded sadly and rubbed her runny nose on her sleeve. The mother gave her one last kiss on the head.
"Good, now go!" The mother urged.
The little girl ran as fast as her chubby little legs could carry her. She finally found the big magic wooden door. She pounded her tiny little fists on the door as loud as she could. They had to let her in before her papa found her.
"Let me in please!" She shrieked.
The door swung open and the little girl crawled in.
"Hush little child, you are safe now." A familiar voice murmured.
End of Memory/Dream
Suddenly, Irena's mismatched eyes snapped open and she sat up ram-rod straight. She was sweating profusely and struggled to catch her breath.
Just what in the HELL was that!?
Spoiler
Irena tried to over and over again to summon a weapon using her magic but it seemed useless.
"Come on Irena! I know you can do better than this! Summon something!" Stephen growled.
Irena glared angrily at Stephen.
"I'm trying you jackass!" She yelled loudly.
"Well try harder!" He yelled back just as loudly.
She concentrated has hard as she could and suddenly she felt her magic crackle to life. A blue fan materialized in each hand and Stephen stared at her in shock.
A/N: Dun Dun DUUUNNN! ;)
